German-language comics and graphic novels are enjoying increasing academic attention. While it is worthwhile to analyze topics such as GDR history, German manga, and literary adaptations, our discussions mostly remain within the realm of the comics format traditionally conceived. That is to say, the majority of analyses focus on multi-panel, paper-based comics in which words and images are combined in fairly traditional ways (think, for instance, speech bubbles and captions, regular panel architecture) and which tell stories by means of conventional narrative structures. In order to broaden our scholarly view, this panel wants to shine a light on those graphic products in the German language market that dare to experiment with one or more of these classical comic elements. Hence, we seek papers on “comic-like” artefacts which border on, but are also distinct from comics as we commonly understand them. In exploring these “comicoid” texts, we ask definitional questions as much as we take stock of age-old and recent Anrainer. Ultimately, the panel gets at questions of intermediality and transmediality. As we look at the periphery of (German) comics production, we want to interrogate what constitutes a “narrative” within as well as across media and how the medial base shapes how stories (or whatever defies this label) are told. In this spirit, we welcome contributions that focus on various types of texts from all historical periods.

Possible topics includes, but are not limited to, the following text types

animation (TV; computer games)

web comics,

comics that go beyond 2 dimensions,

comics that materially add or visually represent senses other than vision to a considerable degree,

single-panel cartoons,

wordless or ambient comics

handmade zines

fumetti,

photo comics,

comics with unusual narrative structures

Please send a 350-600-word abstract and a short bio by January 15, 2019 to jludewig@allegheny.edu.